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The Seventh Year
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| Today is the first day of your very first summer vacation. Much like many boys your age this is a special day. A break from Daddy waking you up, getting you dressed, combing your hair, driving to school and kissing you goodbye. Although the whole great ready for school process seldom takes more than 15-20 minutes, we both prefer the schedule where we have no plans and have activity when we are ready. This morning you start off with chocolate milk and Batman and Superman animated series on TV. Ah the good life. Who knows when we will get dressed and do anything today. Well actually we will have to by 11 am as daddy has a meeting and I will take you to Mommy's work for lunch with her. You always enjoy being in her office and spending time there. It always seems like a magical place up 26 floors in downtown Dallas. Your kindergarten had graduation this week. Why I don't know. Maybe mostly to get parents to burn up some more video tape on our cameras. It was fun to watch. We are always surprised to see you sing as you never indicate you have learned any songs nor do you sing them at home. You love being on the stage. You just informed me it is 8 O'clock so obviously kindergarten has taught you how to tell time. Of course why this is important is that we made the mistake of telling you that you will be going to Mommy's work today and you are now ready to go. I have tried to explain to you that we won't go for three more hours when it is 11 o'clock. It is still a sweet time in our lives as the only reality in your life is not the past nor the future even three hours from now. We still live in the moment and it is a good way to live. So Daddy now makes the switch from having 7 hours away from you to having you 24/7. This is a good thing, because as always this is a good thing as from day one you have always understood that daddy works when you are home. You also know that if you need me, work is over and you are my first priority. So we have a summer of fun being little boys together, my 6 year old and his 61 year old dad. I love you Dad (Entry of June 5, 2008) |
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| I thought that this would be a cool addition
to your journal. We asked your kindergarten teacher, Miss Jennifer Brown
to tell us of your year with her for us and you to remember. This what
she had to say: "Since meeting Ro in August I've seen Ro grow from
a quiet, shy boy to an obedient, talkative and happy kid that enjoys school and his friends. I believe Ro's first friend was Anna and throughout the school year they remained good friends but Ro also created friendships with other students. I specifically remember the time I paired Ro and Justin to work as partners for a game. After the game was over Ro ran up to me and said, "Miss Brown!!! Me and Justin are friends now!!!" He was so excited to have another friend in class! His enthusiasm and excitement for gaining another friend are one of the reasons I love teaching. The smallest or simplest occurences in a child's day are usually the most meaningful to them. Ro enjoys friendships and treats each friend with kindess and expects the same from them as well. Ro began Kindergarten knowing most of his letters and letter sounds. As the year progressed Ro quickly learned how to blend the letter sounds together in order to read words. From a teacher's perspective it's always exciting to see that a child understands HOW to blend letter sounds because this is the foundation of learning to read. Ro made wonderful progress throughout the school year as he learned more short vowel sounds to blend. This is an indicator to me that Ro will succeed in learning to read with long vowel sounds, word patterns, etc. Without a doubt in my mind I've enjoyed getting to know Ro. He's caring, giving and treats others as he wants to be treated. Ro enjoyed 'suprising' me with gifts every once in awhile. The most memorable moments I have of Ro are the times Ro would intentionally sit next to me when we sat in a circle on the rug. Ro wasn't one of the children that often showed affection however anytime I sat on the floor with the kids Ro already made up his mind that we were sitting together and he would make sure of it! Throughout the lesson Ro would lean against me and I smiled inside knowing that Ro loved sitting next to his teacher :)" (Entry of June 9, 2008) |
| Today is Father's Day. Your dad is pretty much against most of our man-made holidays. These days are a day for people to spend money. Good for business. I really don't need a card or a gift. Every day that I wake up I get to live in your world. It is a beautiful world. There are no schedules, there are no yesterdays, and there are no tomorrows. The words, Dad! Watch me!, are an important part of every day. Indeed it is a joy to watch you. You don't have to ask or demand. I guess I am a fortunate human being as I have been given the daily gift of watching my son grow up. I have been there for nearly all of your life moments. I have not missed anything. The most important thing for me on this man-made day is hear you say, Dad, Sit with me? That I will and the next day, and the next day. Happy Father's Day to me! The luckiest Dad on earth! (entry of June 15, 2008) |
| Well summer is full swing and yes just two weeks, I am getting a little tired of "Hey Dad!" Hey Dad, look at me" Dad!, Dad! Dad! But on the other hand it is better than the alternative. We are becoming Olympic quality swimmers. About 1-2 hours daily is taking care of that. Howver, it does not take too long to run out of fun things to do in the water when you are in the pool every day. But between going the fitness club everyday, watching TV and playing on the computer, the days fly by. It is a hard job doing nothing everyday. Love Dad. (Entry of June 30, 2008) |
| Our summer of fun is speeding by. Today I took you to church camp that you will be going to half days for a week. You were not too excited as your lazy hazy summer schedule was definitely thrown off. You are strange in one respect. You have no desire to leave the house. You could stay here all day with nothing but underpants and a pajama top all day and you would be good to go. There have been some great moments this summer and when we are experiencing them, I think I should rush to the computer and rwrite them down, but I always say I will do it later and by the time I do make it, I forget what was so important. The best part of summer has been you and I playing pretend games. No toys, no TV, just you and I pretending to be ghosts, zombies or some kind of super hero. You are very much in to being powerful aand overtaking the world and saving others. We laugh, we play, we live good. It is a perfect world! I love you. Your Dad. (Entry of July 14, 2008) |
| You are off to church camp this week. Not out in the woods but at your church. The first day you didn't really want to go because you and Dad had a pretty easy fun schedule going, However once you found out the fun places you were going every day, Dad was a forgotten person. So you've seen a movie, gone roller skating (guess what roller skates are now #1 on your list for Dad to buy) gymnastics and bowling. Everyday you bring something with you that you have crafted that is a new surprise for your Dad. You are focused now on your age and growing up. Now that you are 6, you want to be 7. The fact that you need bigger shoes and clothes is paramount to you. Once you get in the car, usually your first thing to discuss is about how big and old you getting. You are not a baby and a big boy and you let me know several times a day. I love you (Entry of July 17, 2008) |
| This past week, daddy had minor surgery on his arm. I tried to take you to all the appointments and you with me just before and after surgery. I wanted medical experiences to be something you did not fear and understood that it is just one of those things that happens in life. You thought it was a good time and it gave you a chance to be with your mom and dad. The bad side of it was, daddy cannot go in the swimming pool for several weeks and the pool has little interest to you without your mom or dad to abuse. Yesterday was a big day for you because you got a new Spiderman backpack and some new sketchers for school. Before going to bed last night, you had to show me where your new back pack was and show me in a dark room how well your shoes lit up. I thought for a while you were planning on wearing your shoes to bed. Please help me keep life this focused and pleasure with just the simplest of things! My love! (Entry of July 28, 2008) |
| You are a water boy. I love watching you develop your imagination! Although education is a neccessary base of any life, I believe that the ability to blend well with others and an active imagination are the real keys to living a good life. When we go out the pool you and I will play all kinds of imaginary games that mostly involve me tossing you around in the pool. There is always some imaginary game to go with it. Then i get out, turn on the hose with a nozzle that has 6-7 different spray settings and just sit back and watch you go to the land of imagination. You literally can do this for hours. It is great to watch you. Today after we got out, I needed to water the few plants we have in the back yard. You insisted on doing it yourself. Rather than insisting on me helping you and doing it my way, I just let you lead the way. As you began to water, I took on the voice of the plants. "Ro, please give me a drink of water! Oh thank you! I was so thirsty!" This went on as we watered all the plants and they voiced their happiness with your watering. We laughed. We lived in the moment. Life is good. I hope you learn that in life, you can focus on what you have done. You can think about what may be coming. But in reality the focus should always be what are we doing today. Are we happy? Is life good? A life well-lived should always have its focus on the now. I love you my beautiful son! (Entry of August 7, 2008) |
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It was a glorious summer! Each day there was something new and grownup about you. You grow at the light of speed now. Just before the enjd of summer we got you grown up bedroom furniture. To this point you have slept on a very simple bunk bed. You call your new bed, your Little Bear Bed because Little Bear of cartoon world has a bed just like you. During one of the first days you had your bed, I was laying in your bed with you and you of course liked the bounciness of your bed most of all and was bouncing up and down. So or course what happened next was you fell off the bed. You did not get hurt, but I made a long conversation that you had to be careful because I did not want you to get hurt. You sat there thinking about it and after a moment you said, "Dad, We need a soft rug!" Actually I like this spirit, we should always look for the bouncy beds in life and if there is a degree of danger to it, well make sure you have a soft rug to go with it! It is the second day of school. You are in the first grade. The silence at home is deafening. Daddy misses you, but I know you are doing great things at school. Today I had to go to lunch at school because you had the latest Spiderman backpack and with it came the greatest lunch box. You wanted all your classmates to see you had the best. The only problem is that there was no food in it and your new teacher did not know that. So I had to go through the lunch line you today to make sure you got lunch and your teacher would know that there might not be food in your lunch box, but it was Ok for you to carry it. By the way thye corny dog and Macaroni and cheese were delicious. As always you are the light of my life! Love Dad (Entry of August 26, 2008) |
| School is a trip! Anyone who says our education system is lacking doesn't have a kid in school. The pressures for learning on you have been extreme from day one. However, I have not said anything, because at this age you are a sponge and unless I tell you otherwise, you really don't know how tough all this learning is. But it makes me treasure our time after school even more. The evenings not so much as you have one half hour of homework just about every night. This is the first grade! Daddy is not much help. I am sorry but I don't want to be your extra first grade teacher. Mommy has to shoulder all this. But I know you will do well in life because at the center of your being is the deep and constant love from your parents. All the "other" things in life will work out if you have that feeling of well being in the center of your life. My love as always. Your Dad. (Entry of September 15, 2008) |
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| I cannot believe its been a month since my last entry. However I have had four events in the last month. It isn't writing my journal that bother me, but the fact that sometimes my business takes priority over you. It sometimes drives me crazy. No job, no company is as important to me as you. You are doing very good in school and I am very proud of you. And shock of all shock daddy has started helping you with your homework and all is going smoothly. The most important part of our days is right after school we go to the school playground and you play for an hour and Daddy sits around talking to other parents about their kids or about not much at all. The process has started. You are actually making daddy meet some of his neighbors. I never would have done it on my own! Halloween is around the corner and Christmas not too far away and Daddy will not have any events for 3 months. This is my favorite time of year. Time to get you ready to go to school. I love you my buddy! (Entry of Ocober 17, 2008) |
| You are the sweetest child in the world! Twice this week you have given the greatest gift to your dad. This past weekend you went with your mom to Wichita Falls, Texas to visit your great grandma. I called your mom to see what was going on and you insisted on getting the phone to talk to me. You were so excited because you had just bought a new Spiderman suit and this one had the built in super muscles that the real Spiderman would have. As you described how cool it was, you suddenly paused and said " Hey Dad" "What son?" "I love you". Wow! This morning I was dropping you off at school. We got there a few minutes early and you asked if you get out of the car wait in front of the school door. I said yes and after our goodbye kiss, you got out. I waited because I wanted to make sure you went into the school safely. The wait was just a few minutes. Just before the bell rang to let you in, you looked up and ran over to my car at the curb and excitedly asked me to lower down the window. Your little angelic face peered in and said "Dad I love you" and you ran back to the school. Understand that in life there is no job, there is no friend, there is no possession, there is nothing in this world that has more value than real heartfelt love. I am the richest man in the world! I love you too! Your dad. (Entry of October 21, 2008) |
| I don't think you nor I adjust well when they change to and from daylight savings time. It takes about 30 days for our bodies to adjust to a new time frame. The good side of it is during the fall, you go to bed earlier and wake up earlier so you and I have time to cuddle and watch a little TV before I have to get you off to school. I try to let you get as much sleep as possible so many days I wake you up only 20 minutes before you need to be at school and thus no cuddle time. You had a great time at Halloween as we got together with the parents of many of your classmates and we went as group. Much more fun than just going with Dad and Mom. We just got all our halloween stuff put away. In a few weeks we begin getting ready for Christmas. I am pleased that when asked what you want for Christmas that you have no answer. Christmas should never be about gifts but the celebration of family and the great gift that family is. Gifts are just stuff that is dicsarded soon enough. Fellowship with family and friends should always be the most important thing. I look forward to the Christmas season as we will have two weeks off with nothing to do. It is when life is really at its best. I love you. (Entry of November 6, 2008) |
| It is the little things in life that matter the most to a 6 year old boy. As most boys your age, the range of foods that you will actually put in your mouth are limited. In your school you have a choice of bringing a lunch box or eating in a cafeteria. You of course prefer the lunch box. The reasons are as follows. There is a certain status in the six year old boy world if you have the latest and greatest Spiderman lunch box. (You have conned us into having 6 different lunch boxes in your posession) Second, your school as with many schools now a days puts primary emphasis on learning and hardly anything on physical exercize. You actually can get 10-20 minutes in the playground when you are done eating. Those that stand in the lunch line lose 5-10 minutes of that precious time and so you are always bugging me to fix your lunch. Now I would not have a problem with that except after a while you stop eating what I send and you come home extremely hungry, so most of the time I insist on eating in the cafeteria, because I know you will eat a good lunch. Today was a day I had promised you could take your lunch. As you got out of the car this morning, you met Ethan, one of your classmates, and with great joy on your face, you proclaimed this was a great day because your Dad had fixed your lunch and allowed you to bring your Spiderman Lunch Box. It is the little things that bring us joy. Your joy was my joy. I love you (Entry of November 7, 2008) |
| As you rapidly grow up, it just seems like every day there are moments that I feel the need to rush to the computer and write things down here. Last weekend one of your classmates was having a brithday and so Mom and Dad was going to go with you to this place where there a bunch of bounce houses and stuff. The things that create great joy for 6 year olds. My normal attire is very casual as I really do not have see many people and do not see the point. However, for some reason daddy decided to put on a nice shirt for this event. As I was about to go, you looked at me and said " Dad, you look handsome. " And you really meant it. I am not certain many other people in this world would feel that I am handsome. Today as I dropped you off at school, I told you that the dad of one of your classmates will pick you up from school because dad is going to Austin to visit with your Aunt Linda for the weekend. Although you were excited to be with your friends to play after school, you hesitated for a moment and with a quiver in your voice and a sad look on your face, you said, "Dad, I am going to miss you!" These are the things that make life rich and I too will miss you and cannot wait to get back to you (Entry of November 14, 2008) |
| Well, we have gotten all the holiday lights and decorations up. It took your mother, you and I a good portion of 3 days to complete the process. At times I wonder why I do it, but we are about the only house in our neighborhood that lights up most of our yard and I hope it gets them in the holiday spirit. It was five days off from school and you relished the time. Back to school today. You are still driven by several things in your life. You want to take a lunch box to school. However you don't ever want to eat what we put in there. So it is a constant batlle of wills between the two of us. I win because I think nutrition is utmost and has priority over how you look to others. You now surprise us on a regular basis. Your mom was checking on your balance in your lunch account the other day and discovered that someone had deposited $35 cash in your account. Since neither I nor her had done this, she called the school to make sure someone elses money did not get on your account. The story was, we are trying to teaxch you the value of money and have given you a wallet and small amounts of paper bills. Apparently, you had seen another child pay for thei lunch while you were in line, so you decided that would be pretty cool, so you applied all $35 that was in your wallet to the lunch fund. I hope that made you look cool to the others. You are a trip. I love you! (Entry of Dec 1, 2008) |
| It is Christmas Eve. I have been having such a great time with you during this season that I just couldn't tear myself away from you to write anything. It has been a treat being with you. You still live in ten minute world. Nothing exists from ten minutes ago to ten minutes in the future. Trying to discuss when Christmas would be here never really registered in your brain. If the word Christmas came up, you expected to be Christmas now and it is time to open the presents. Each day began with the same question. "Dad, Is it Christmas yet? It is a beautiful well-lived life. Waking each day expecting it to be Christmas is the best way to live. I only hope you keep a piece of this spirit always alive within you. Live each day as though you expect it to be Christmas. Today Daddy did a fun thing that was pretty much out of every Christmas movie ever written. We have only taken you to one Santa since you were born. This Santa is so real and so good, that there are long lines to see him and it is very difficult to get into see him. So today I left the house at 6:30 a.m. I was up since 4 am. I was afraid to go back to sleep because I might miss going to get the ticket that would get your place in line. As I got there there were ten other parents like myself that were happy and glad to get up and go do this for their children. We had a great time gabbing and talking about everything and mostly about our kids. And later as we arrived back with you along, it was like we were long-time friends. Always remember that although presents and gifts are fun, that the real joy and spirit of Christmas is fellowship with family and friends. I got choked up as I watched you sit on Santa's lap and so softly spoke with him. You are my sweet boy. I love you! Santa comes tonight! I love you! (Entry of December 24, 2008) |
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| And the Christmas surpises just continue on!. Santa Claus himself just came to the house just before he took off in his sleigh to deliver all his toys. he wanted to make sure you knew he was thinking of you. The look on your face after hearing the doorbell and opening the door and seeing Santa at the front door was priceless! Daddy always opened most of his Crhistmas gifts on New Years Eve as he was growing up. Your Mommy was always a Christmas Day girl. So you get the best of both worlds and we opened three presents tonight. More to come tomorrow! |
| Just a couple of notes before I review the year that was 2008. It is just a freaky thing to see the things that you copy for your parents. It is always just the little things one would never expect. The other day you and I were were lounging in your bed watching one of your TV shows and we had the door shut. One of our cats (Bob Kitties) was shut in the room with us and suddenly began meowing at the door to get out. we ignored him as long as possible and finally I said, "Ro, get up and let Bob Kitties Out." With a sigh and some relunctance you got up and opened the door and as he went out, you said to him "Happy?" Just the very same thing when I say to you when you meow at me over and over to get me to do something for you and I finally give in. On News Year Eve you by accident took a nap in the late afternoon and as the night wore on you had no desire to go to sleep. When you found out that on New Year's Eve people stayed up until midnight to welcome in the New Year this was a concept that you embraced with heart and soul. You delcared, " I am not going to sleep tonight!" I hope this was a one time aberration and so far it has been. On New Year's Day we tried to explain to you that suddenly it was a new year. It was not 2008 as you had learned in school, but it was now 2009. You had great difficulty with this concept until I explained it in another way. At your age you want to get older in every way and you cannot wait. So I explained that in 2008 you were 6 years old and in 2009 you will be 7 years old. This brought great joy to you in every way. However we spent the rest of the day explaining the concept that you will not actually be 7 until May 17. After much repetition in our explanations, you went to your labeling machine and put a label on the back of your kitchen chair. It reads, Iwillabouttobe7. And this is why I love you so much! (Entry of January 8, 2009) |
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The year that was 2008: |
| This is always a tough time of the year to make any entries in your journal as most of my big events are bunched between February and April. However it is always a time you provide me with great writing fodder. Fortunately you look forward to event day. You like the fact that I go rent a white cargo van to take materials to the event as it is your chance to ride in a different vehicle and as long as I am driving it, you insist that you are the only person that can be in the other seat. Events also mean you can be on stage and sometimes use my micrphone and speaker system. I am hoping that being on stage will be a natural process for you and something you will have no problem with when you get older. You have made great strides in school and your grades have improved greatly and you are now getting the hang of it all. However, it is becoming the time for me to let my little boy go a bit as believe it or not you prefer being with friends (mostly boys - girls only if there is no boys available) All your friends want to either be at my house or you at theirs. This has created a life situation that your dad has never had to deal with the first 60 years of his life. I have had to start to get to know my neighbors and actually start to form relationships. It is also driving me to get your mom out of her job and home full time as she does this sort of thing so much better than I. But in the next year more and more people will be in my house and I have you to thank for it all. Like I had anything to say about it! Our love is strong and I live for you. Your dad. (Entry of February 17, 2009) |
| I sometimes say to myself, no one other than your mother can love you as much as I do. What I want to always say is I hope everyone loves you as much as I do. Yesterday you ask me, "Dad how do you spell, are?" You were at your label machine and I spelled it for you. I now have a label on my desk that says, dadyouaregood. Life is good. (Entry of February 22, 2009) |
| The month of March is always a difficult one for me. It is when the work is the heaviest and I have the least energy and time to spend with you. It is difficult for me to even carve out some playdates for you. But through it all, you just are a great kid! As I watched you get out of the car this morning to go to school, I still see how small and young you are, but at the same time how much you have grown and developed. You can hardly wait to be seven. This is a fun time for you as Your mom's birthday is in March. Mine is in April and yours in May. You like counting the days and months for all the birthdays. For mom's birthday, I let you pick out the cake. I did have to say no to the cake that had cars on it. You put the candles on and you could not wait for mommy to get home for her birthday. As she drove into the garage, you insisted we hide so we could jump up and yell Happy Birthday! As always it is the little things in life that may living a daily joy. I love you my daily joy. Your dad. (entry of March 12, 2009) |
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| That's you helping Dad at our last event. You like to help and look forward to our events. I have already started programming in your head that you should want to do this the rest of your life. It is not a bad life and mostly free of stress. You are rapidly losing interest in spending time with mom and dad. it is all about playdates and being with your school friends. At your age all the parents are very cautious about this process and it requires much organization to pull it off. We just finished your spring break. It was a nice peaceful week and mostly we just hung out and had a good time. You are all about summer vacation and spring break. So far school is just not that high on your wish list. Hey and we only have 11 more years to go! But no matter what, life is good and fun and I love you. (Entry of March25, 2009) |
| You are in the birthday season. Mommy has her birthday in March. Mine is in April and you are in May. The only passing interest you have your parent's birthdays is it warms you up for yours and you know yours is next. For my birthday, you had one present wrapped for me that you had picked out. You were very eager for me to open it. I had a good idea that it was a present for both of us as you had no interest in giving my other two presents. So I stalled and stalled in the opening. Your little body twisted and turned in utter exasperation to get me to open it. So what was it? It was a game we had seen advertised 100's of times on your channel and I had always said, let's get that! It was a SpongeBob Squarepants operation game. So we have since been pulling plastic peices out of Spongebob's innards with many a buzzing sound accompanying it. Happy Birthday to me! To my happy boy. Love Dad (Entry of April 15, 2009) |
| Your seventh year is rapidly coming to an end. Your development now moves at the speed of light. You are declaring your independence more and more and you are forming your own personal choices of how you want things in your life. You seem self assured and comfortable about who you are. I think the only thing you might change at this stage is get older, taller and have less freckles. Your dad is a big baseball fan and my main dispaointment so far is that you could care less and I have trouble even getting you to go to a baseball game with me and when I do you are always ready to leave by the fourth inning. The quickest way to get you to sleep on school nights is have the baseball game on the TV. As a kid myself, I had an aversion to Boy Scouts and anything that might involve camping out and doing Boy Scout things. So or course last night as I came to your room to get you to sleep and tuck you in, you said, "Dad the principle announced at our school that we could join Boy Scouts. " My reply was Oh I think you have to be the third or fourth grade for that" Your reply is no i think first graders can join. Dad I want to be a Boy Scout" So here we go and oh my oh my! Your birthday is next week. I can hardly wait! (Entry of May 7, 2009) |
| Well this a bit late, but you are now seven and daddy will have to start a new chapter. Your sventh birthday covered a full week as we got everyone in to celebrate. Your biggest party was having 9-10 of your school friends over to the house for a swim party. You were so exhausted from the excitement, that you went to bed at 5 pm and did not wake up until the next morning. We decreed that no one bring gifts. We wanted the celebration of your friends and family on your birthday to be your gift. You did not seem to care in any way. You are at the age now that interaction with kids your age, is primary in your life. The word playdate comes up a lot. You do not understand that these things are not easily strung together and at the moment you decide you want one, your parents can just get it done. You also think that by asking 52 times and saying please can make the magic of a playdate happen also. Sadly for your dad, you are growing up too fast and you prefer others over me. Although I understand this is how life must work, I still yearn for the days when you were srtill my baby boy. Happy seventh birthday! We now begin chapter eight of our journey in life together. ((Entry of May 26, 2009) |